Mixing apparatus



L. A. SHILLING MIXING APPARATUS Jan. 9, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 6, 1966 INVENTOR.

Q m m u s Y R R A ah/w ATTORNEYS L. A. SHILLING MIXING APPARATUS Jan. 9, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 6, 1966 INVENTOR. LARRY A. S\-\\L\ \NGv ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,362,691 MG APPARATUS Larry A. Shilling, RR. 2, Box 123, Odessa, Mo. 64076 Filed June 6, 1966, Ser. No. 555,575 2 Claims. (Cl. 259-108) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for blending or mixing a mixture of flowable materials, having a base with a portion for supporting a container of material to be mixed, and a housing with an electric motor having a depending driven shaft and an impeller thereon to extend into the container to mix the materials therein, said housing being removably supported relative to the base by means of an upright member on the base and a depending member on the housing in telescoping engagement and cooperating stop portions for limiting the telescoping movement and preventing relative rotation of the housing and base. The impeller being a plate that is circular and fixed in coaxial relation to the shaft for rotation on the longitudinal axis thereof, said plate being inclined relative to the axis of the shaft and having upper and lower parallel flat surfaces whereby high speed rotation provides a vibratory action in the materials being blended.

Heretofore, considerable ditliculty has been experienced in obtaining effective eflicient mixing or blending of such mixtures as paint where intervals of storage cause one or more components of the mixture, such as the pigment in paint, to settle in the liquid vehicle. This problem is especially pronounced in relation to automotive paints where the metallic pigment tends to settle and adhere to form a cake at the bottom of the paint container. The cake formed by such metallic pigment is relatively unaffected by conventional prior art mixing means such as apparatus for stirring or shaking. It is usually necessary to break the cake and mix the metallic pigment by a long tedious manual process.

The principal objects of this invention are: to provide a new and improved apparatus for the mixing or 'blend ing of components of various mixtures to alleviate the aforementioned difficulties in the art; to provide such a mixing apparatus employing a new and improved impeller, said impeller being rotatably driven at a suflicieutly high speed to effectively and efficiently mix or blend the components of a mixture even where some of the components have settled from a liquid vehicle to form a cake of adhered particles; to provide such an apparatus employing such a high speed mixing action wherein a mixture such as a paint may be mixed in their normal sales container regardless of the size of said container without spilling or throwing the mixtures from said container; to provide a highly versatile mixing apparatus employing a variable speed switch for control of the motor speed allowing the utilization of the mixing apparatus with various mixtures regardless of their viscosity, as for example, paint before and after thinning may be mixed by this apparatus by simply controlling the motor speed; to provide such a mixing apparatus adjustably mounted in a new and improved manner to allow the insertion of the impeller in containers of varying sizes while maintaining the impeller in the desired slightly spaced relation from the bottom of said container to effect the desired mixing action.

This invention contemplates an apparatus for mixing flowable materials such as various soluble and insoluble components in a liquid vehicle employing an impeller rotatably driven within said mixture by a shaft operatively 3,362,691 Patented Jan. 9, 1968 connected to a motor or other driving means, said impeller being secured to said shaft in an inclined manner in such a way as to efiect a pumping action of high speed minute vibrations at the lower portion of the mixture by the wobble action of the impeller to effect a mixing action at relatively high speeds without throwing the mixture from the container. The invention also contemplates a versatile stand mounting employing a telescoping standard with a locking mechanism to prevent rotation of said mounting during the operation of the impeller and to properly locate the impeller in the mixture. The invention further contemplates a variable speed driving means which may be selectively driven at any desired speed between zero and the maximum speed of the driving means in order to regulate the mixing action relative to the viscosity of the mixture and the nature of components and conditions of the mixture being blended.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein are set forth by way of illustration and example certain embodiments of this invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus for blending mixtures embodying the features of this invention and illustrated with the driving shaft and impeller inserted in a mixture container.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view at an enlarged scale taken on line 22 of FIG. 6 through the housing of the driving means illustrating its relation to a telescoping mounting member which serves as a support for said housing.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view through the driving shaft looking downward on the impeller which is illustrated herein as a disk or plate-like member.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view of the driving shaft and impeller illustrated in FIG. 1 showing the angular relationship of the impeller to the driving shaft.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the telescoping mounting members illustrating a locking mechanism employed to retain the telescoping members and thereby, the housing of the driving means in a desired predetermined relation.

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view at an enlarged scale of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 having a portion of the housing broken away to illustrate the position of the driving means within said housing.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the circuitry of the mixing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings in more detail:

The reference numeral 1 broadly designates an apparatus for mixing or blending of varous flowable mixtures and in certain uses to disintegrate and disperse insoluble components and dissolve soluble components in a liquid vehicle, said apparatus 1 embodying the features of this invention. The apparatus 1 is generally comprised of a supporting frame 2, a driving means 3 including a driving shaft 4, and an impeller 5 operatively connected to the driving shaft, said driving shaft imparting rotational motion to said impeller 5 to effect a mixing action within the container 6.

The impeller 5 is illustrated herein as a flat, plate-like member in the form of a disk 8 defining an upper surface 10 and a lower surface 12, each of said surfaces 10 and 12 being smooth fiat surfaces. The disk 8 may be welded or otherwise suitably connected to the driving shaft 4 with said disk 8 being disposed in an inclined manner to the longitudinal axis of the driving shaft 4. In the illustrated embodiment, the disk 8 is welded to the lower end of the shaft 4, said disk 8 rotating about its center on an axis which coincides with the axis of rota tion of the shaft 4, the axis of rotation of shaft 4 being its longitudinal center axis. As the driving shaft 4 rotates, the disk 8 is rotated in its angularly disposed position and has a wobble motion causing high speed minute vibrations or a pumping action at the center or lower portion of the mixture being blended. The pumping action causes said mixture both to rotate in a vortexing manner with rolling and turbulence within the mixtures, thereby limiting the height to which the outer edge of the vortex rises on the container effectively maintaining the mixture within the container even at extremely high speeds for apparatus of this type.

The impeller 5 in so mixing or blending the mixture effects a displacement of the mixture primarily in a vertical direction causing minute high speed vibrations within the mixture. Due to the character of the impeller 5, there is relatively little lateral displacement of the mixture which is normally attendant such mixing devices; therefore, the mixture is not thrown outwardly from the impeller 5 in a lateral manner, causing the mixture to climb the walls of the container and at high speeds, be thrown from the container. Thus, the impeller allows the utilization of a high velocity vibratory mixing action without throwing the mixture from its container.

The disk 8, as illustrated, is inclined to the horizontal at about degrees and to the vertically disposed longitudinal axis of the driving shaft 4 at about 80 degrees. It has been found that for optimum results, the angle of the disk 8 with the horizontal should be maintained within a range from about /2 to 10 degrees or about 89 /2 to 80 degrees from the longitudinal axis of the shaft 4 with best results with the disk disposed at an angle of approximately 2 degrees with the horizontal or 88 degrees from the longitudinal axis of the driving shaft. The angle of inclination of the disk 8 may vary depending upon the speed of the driving means 3 and the application of the apparatus 1.

The driving means 3 is illustrated as a variable speed electrical motor 14 wherein the speed of the motor is responsive to variations in current flow through said motor 14. The utilization of such a variable speed motor 14 provides for the employment of the mixing apparatus 1 for the blending of a multiplicity of mixtures having wide variations of viscosity while maintaining a thorough efficient mixing action in each of said mixtures. The motor 14, as illustrated, has a motor shaft 16 extending outwardly from the bottom portion thereof and being operatively connected to the driving shaft 4 by a suitable means. In this instance, the shaft 16 is positioned in a bore in the upper end portion of shaft 4 and secured therein by a retainer 18. The motor 14, as illustrated, is positioned in a vertical manner with the shaft 16 extending downwardly from motor 14 in a vertical manner having its longitudinal axis coinciding with the longitudinal axis of the driving shaft 4.

The current flow through the motor 14 is controlled by a variable resistor 20 operatively connected within the power circuit 22, illustrated in FIG. 7, and operable by means of the knob 24 operatively associated with the dial 26. In this manner, the operator may vary the resistance within the power circuit 22 to the motor 14, thereby varying the current flow through motor 14 and controlling the speed of motor 14 at the desired level. It has been found that 5,000 revolutions per minute is a sufficient rotational speed for the disk 8 to effect the desired mixing action to elfectively break up caked settlement and mix said settlement with a liquid vehicle, as for instance, the cake settlements formed by the settling action of metallic pigment from automotive paints. illustrated, are retained within a housing 28 by suitable means, said housing 28 including side panels 30, an upper panel 32 and a lower panel 34. The lower panel 34 directly beneath the motor 14 defines a through aperture 36, through which the driving shaft 4 is received for mounting to the motor 14 within the interior of the housing 28. The upper panel 32 and the rearmost side panel 30 define a plurality of apertures 38 and 40 respectively to eifect an air flow through the housing 28 for cooling of the motor 14. The dial 26 is operatively mounted on one of the side walls 30 with the knob 24 extending through an aperture in the side Wall 30 and operatively connected to the variable resistor 20 for actuating said resistor 20 to vary a current flow through the motor 14.

The bottom panel 34 defines a second aperture 42 through which a hollow tubular supporting or mounting member 44 is received, said supporting member 44 extending through the housing 28 and being secured to the interior surface 46 of the upper panel 32 by suitable means such as welding to thereby provide a portion of the telescoping stand mounting for use in raising the housing 28 upwardly to remove the impeller 5 and driving shaft 4 from a container so that the container may be removed and, if desired, a new container placed in the proper position.

The frame member 2 also includes a base or plate 48 having an upstanding post or standard 5%} secured thereto by suitable means such as welding to retain the standard 50 in a vertical position. The standard 50 is employed to receive the telescoping tubular member 44 such that the tubular member 44 may be raised and lowered relative to the standard 50 and plate 48 to effectively raise and lower the housing 28 for removal and insertion respectively of the impeller 5 and driving shaft 4 relative to the container 6.

A retaining bar 52 is disposed transversely of the standard 50 through a pair of aligned apertures and suitably secured thereto to lock the tubular member 44 in a desired position and prevent rotation of said member 44 upon activation of the driving shaft 4 and impeller 5. The retaining bar 52 is received in a pair of opposed notches 54 defined in the lower edge of the tubular member 44 allowing the tubular member 44 to be raised and lowered relative to the retaining bar 52 but preventing the rotation of the tubular member 44 by abutment of the retaining bar 52 with the side edges of the opposed notches 54. The retaining bar 52 also serves to stop the downward movement of the tubular member 44 at such a position wherein the impeller 5 will be elevated approximately one-half inch above the bottom of the container 6 within the mixture to be blended to properly position the disk 8 for effecting the desired mixing action.

In operation, the impeller 5 and driving shaft 4 are inserted within the container 6 by elevating the tubular member 44 relative to the standard 50 to a position of sufiicient height to allow the impeller 5 to clear the rim of the container 6. Then, the tubular member 44 is slid downwardly over the standard 50 to position the impeller 5 at the proper level within the container 6. When the tubular member 44 is lowered to the desired position, the opposed notches 54 receive the retaining bar 52 to secure the tubular member 44 at the proper elevation and in the desired orientation to place the housing 28 above the base plate 48 and prevent rotation of the tubular member 44 and displacement of the housing 28 by the vibratory action of the driving shaft 4 and impeller 5.

As the impeller is now properly positioned within the mixture to be blended and located approximately one-half inch above the bottom of the container 6, the motor 14 may be activated by turning the dial 24 to the desired rotational speed of the motor as indicated on the dial 26. The speed desired is dependent upon the viscosity of the mixture to be blended and the degree to which the insoluble particles within the liquid vehicle have tended to settle to form a cake at the lower portion of the container. In the instance of automotive paints where metallic pigments tend to settle, forming a cake, a motor speed in the nature of 5,000 revolutions per minute has been found to be desirable. The activation of the motor 14 causes the impeller 5 to rotate within the mixture in its angularly disposed position to the horizontal and to the longitudi- 11211 axis of the driving shaft thereby effecting a pumping action within the mixture causing the mixture to rotate in a vortexing manner about the container 6 and also to roll and tumble in a turbulent manner preventing the mixture from rising up the inner sides of the container and further, the combined action of the turbulent rolling and vortexing preventing splattering or other throwing of the mixture from the container during the blending or mixing operation. Once the mixture has been suitably blended or mixed, the tubular member 44- and housing 28 may be elevated by sliding the tubular member 44 up the standard 50 and the container 6 slid from beneath the impeller 5 or the tubular member 44 and housing 28 and impeller 5 rotated to a position adjacent the container 6 such that the container may be removed from the base plate 48 with ease.

It is to be understood that while I have illustrated and described one form of my invention, it is not to be limited thereto except insofar as such limitations are included in the claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for blending a mixture of flowable materials comprising,

(a) a base having a portion for supporting an open top container of materials to be blended,

(b) an elongate upstanding support fixed to said base and extending upwardly in spaced relation to the container supporting portion,

(0) a housing having an elongate member depending therefrom, said elongate member and the elongate support being removably engaged in telescoping re lation of one with the other,

(d) a laterally extending stop on said support and abutment portions on said depending member of the housing for cooperative engagement to limit telescoping movement of said support and member and to prevent relative rotation thereof,

(e) a variable speed electric motor in said housing,

said motor speed being responsive to current variations in the power supply to said motor,

(f) a variable resistor operatively connected to said motor and power supply thereof to selectively vary the speed to any particular speed between the maximum and minimum speeds of said motor,

(g) a driven shaft connected to said motor and extending downwardly from the housing in spaced re lation to the elongate depending member and parallel thereto, said shaft terminating in a free end spaced above said base over the portion thereof for supporting the container, said shaft being driven by said motor and rotating on its longitudinal axis,

(h) an impeller in the form of a circular plate fixed to the free end of the shaft with the axis of the plate being coaxial with the longitudinal axis of said shaft, said plate being inclined to the longitudinal axis of the shaft at an angle within the range of to 89.5 degrees, said plate having upper and lower parallel flat faces whereby the plate is characterized by an absence of mixture impelling shoulders and the blending is through a vibratory motion in response to high speed axial rotation of the plate.

2. An apparatus for blending a mixture of flowable materials as set forth in claim 1 wherein the plate is disposed at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the shaft in the nature of two degrees to a plane normal to said longitudinal axis.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,023,580 3/1962 Dilig 259- X 3,135,500 6/1964 Perrinjaquet 259-135 FOREIGN PATENTS 459,932 4/ 1935 Great Britain. 602,353 5/1948 Great Britain.

WILLIAM I. PRICE, Primary Examiner. 

